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Starbase/Setting
Overview The space station you happen to be stationed on orbits the fringe world of Orin, newly reconquered from the D'mt Technocracy. It has historically served as an important trade world with both the D'mt and Lydian realms, given its position on the terminus of a long main in possession of the Nok and in proximity to those polities. Next to it is the impassable Spinward Chasm, tempting explorers and scientists with its untouched worlds. The system is of some scientific importance due to its primary being a unique, hard-to-classify star with exotic radiation patterns. Groundside, the main world of Orin is covered by organic rock formations grown from the world-sea floor, and populated primarily by a primitive, debatably-sapient species of amphibious blobs. Seasonal temperature variation on the planets, including the main world, is extremely high, approaching 100 degrees Kelvin. Orin System Stars: * F4-Vp! Exotic Blue Primary * G2-V Yellow Main Sequence Companion Planets: * Dendi: X500000-0 (airless rock), 2 moons. * Saadi: Gas giant, 10 moons. * Kish: X703000-0 (airless rock with plentiful ice), 2 moons. * Orin Prime: AA55770-1 (breathable if thin air, liquid water, tens of millions of indigenous sophonts, no central government), no moons. * Bosporan: XBA4000-0 (methane-shrouded rock with poisonous seas), 2 moons. * Twi: X210000-0 (nearly airless rock), 1 moon. * Inner asteroid belt. * Dian: X6B1000-0 (ammonia-shrouded rock with some ice), 2 moons. * Outer asteroid belt. Orin Prime Starbase History Originally commissioned as refueling depot and frontier staging area, over 200 years ago. Traded hands several times in the wars between local powers. Expanded 35 years ago by addition of a modernized station on a similar plan to its base by the D'mt Technocracy. Layout Two cubes, attached at the side. Northcube is 55 meters on the side, Southcube is 80 meters on the side. Northcube is notably built with many now-obsolete technologies, its ancient fission reactor serving as a backup should the primary fusion reactor of Southcube fail. Inhabitants The station is home to approximately 2000 civilian population of chiefly Nok and Lydian origin, the last ethnic cleansing taking place 70 years ago during Lydian occupation. The Nok have, since reconquering the system and the station, imposed a system of representation that now finds expression in the Station Civilian Authority which advises and attempts to restrict the actions of the Nok military by attaching civilian representatives to high-ranking officers on board. Federal Republic of Nok Size: 54 member systems, with 61 inhabited planets. Technology: TL 13. The Nok Federation is named after their homeworld of origin (which, in the local language means 'ground' or 'dirt'). The polity is roughly 400 years old, having assimilated neighbouring human world-civilizations through conquest and diplomacy. Culturally, the Nok value political representation, and grant all member worlds some form of voice in the administration of the Republic, typically by appointing a number of individuals from each world to the Nok Senate (usually the top few positions of whatever government the world possesses). As the Federation has grown, this policy has led to the growth of the Senate and the diminishment of its importance in favor of a permanent bureaucratic elite. The civilian citizens of the Federal Republic are restricted from all stellar-age technology, including high tech weapons, augments and jump drives. The elite classes of member worlds are nearly universally pleased to implement this policy, securing their place in the hierarchy. The military, the aristocracy and the Void Wardens (who are the custodians of jump drives on board all legally-operating ships within the Nok realm) are the only people who can reliably get their hands on advanced items and implants. Titles The Republic of Nok does not have a standardized hierarchy of nobility. Local titles from the system of origin are often used. Due to the republican system, there is no formal assignment of offices as property (such as there is in a feudal system); offices are appointed or elected (but member systems aren't required to work like this locally). Anyone of Social Standing 10 is considered to be nobility, anyone of less is considered a commoner. Offices typically follow prominence - if you're important, titles will come to *you*; the other way around, reaching prominence by dint of entitlement is rather less common. Parties and Factions Nok has a number of political organizations that vie for power. The two major ones are: * The Republican Party, whose agenda is centralization, egalitarianism and unrestricted warfare. * The Federalist Party, whose agenda is decentralization, feudalism and filibustering. In addition, there are a number of minor or local parties that sometimes get enough support to meddle: * The Nok Pan-Nationalist Union, whose agenda is diversity reduction, mass education and isolationism. * The Freedom Party, whose agenda is anarchism, wealth generation and elitism. * The Anti-D'mt Alliance, whose agenda is revanchism, expansion and interventionism. In addition, there are medley of single-world factions that are only of local importance, and the Void Wardens, who while technically a branch of the power structure, often act to influence events within the Republic. D'mt Technocracy Size: Approximately 60 systems. Planet count unknown. Technology: TL 12-13. The D'mt Technocracy is called that because they restrict technology even stricter than the Nok do, and grant access to it as a reward for advancement in their society. They are frequently at war with Nok and Lydia, as well as their other, coreward and trailing neighbours. There is no particular distinction between 'military' and 'civilian' in the D'mt mindset, and the upper echelons regard common people as little more than extensions of their wills. Unlike the Nok, the D'mt do not extend any particular rights to conquered peoples, treating each in accordance to their usefulness to the purposes of their government. Advancement in the D'mt society is theoretically open to all, regardless of racial origin, provided the candidates excel in the Aptitude Examinations, which test ideological conformity, intellectual capacity and obedience to authority. D'mt member worlds tend to become culturally assimilated into the dominant views of the primary ethnicity, over time. Kingdom of Lydia Size: ~32 systems, ~35 inhabited planets. Technology: TL 13. The Kingdom of Lydia was founded by a small fleet of jump-capable ships which arrived in the region about half a millennium ago, traveling spinward. According to fragmentary records and legends passed down the generations, they were refugees fleeing from war waged by two vast empires in the incredibly distant regions of space trailing of here. Indeed, the language of their aristocracy is alien to these parts, and the origins of their name are lost to time. The Lydian government is decentralized and aristocratic. As a rule, governors and lords attempt to stem all mass movements and encourage personal loyalty as opposed to class or ethnic cohesion. Formal education is generally available only to the wealthy and their retainers, and there is no standardized, universal schooling system. In addition to having their strange language and customs, the Lydians have and are formally required to follow their official state religion - the Universal Assembly - which also has origins outside of this region of space. This faith is somewhat common outside their realm, as well, if often persecuted by the D'mt.